Nicușor Dan attacks at the CCR a law that “violates the fundamental right to a healthy environment”

President Nicușor Dan announced on Monday that he has notified the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) regarding the law that modifies the regime of protected natural areas and environmental impact assessment.

The head of state claims that the normative act “raises constitutionality issues and contravenes Romania's obligations as a member state of the European Union”.

“This allows the reduction of the limits of protected areas and the elimination of the environmental assessment for entire categories of energy projects or declared by the Supreme Council of National Defense to be of interest for national security,” wrote Nicușor Dan, Monday evening, in a post on Facebook.

According to the president, the notification of unconstitutionality emphasizes that the law:

• violates the fundamental right to a healthy environment, guaranteed by art. 35 of the Constitution;

• contravenes the European Directives on the protection of habitats and environmental impact assessment, which do not allow general or automatic exemptions for energy or military projects;

• eliminates the environmental assessments and compensatory measures imposed by the European Union, reducing the level of biodiversity protection and exposing Romania to the risk of triggering an infringement procedure.

President Nicușor Dan drew attention to the fact that the objective of energy independence “must be achieved in a sustainable manner”.

“The energy independence of our country is a particularly important goal, but it must be achieved in a sustainable manner, and Romania has a constitutional and European obligation to protect the natural heritage and to guarantee every citizen the right to a healthy environment. The adoption of rules that weaken these guarantees would mean a dangerous legislative regression, contrary to the principles of the rule of law,” he concluded.